About us

Donate

If you value the work of the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute as we analyze trends in the Charlotte region and the Carolinas, consider a tax-deductible gift to help sustain our operations. We appreciate your support.

Follow the institute

Sign up for weekly newsletter

PlanCharlotte Newsletter

UNCC Urban Institute Newsletter

Email Address *

Diane Gavarkavich

UNC Charlotte Urban Institute

Director of Research Services

Biography

Diane serves as the director of research services at the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute. Diane manages survey, program evaluation, and needs assessment work as well as serves as the primary grant and proposal writer. Her research interests include data-informed decision-making and the social determinants of health. Prior to graduate school, Diane was an algebra teacher in Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Education

Diane holds her Master of Public Health in Health Behavior from UNC Chapel Hill, graduate certificates in Middle Grade Mathematics from UNC Charlotte and Nonprofit Management from UNC Chapel Hill, and her bachelor’s from Vanderbilt University with a double major in Human and Organizational Development and Medicine, Health and Society.

Expertise

Diane has five-plus years of experience in program evaluation and applied research focusing on public health and education issues.

Articles

How do you influence the community around you? Do you vote, volunteer, go to meetings or march in protests? The institute is partnering with Google, Johnson C. Smith University and the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation to research how local residents engage with each other, including online.

Mecklenburg County wants to hear from residents about recycling. With the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute’s help, the county has launched an online survey. Those who take it can register for a chance to win an Apple iPad.

Mecklenburg County wants to hear from residents about recycling. With the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute’s help, the county has launched an online survey. Those who take it can register for a chance to win an Apple iPad.

If you live in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County or nearby counties, the Urban Land Institute Charlotte chapter wants to know about your housing needs and preferences. Take their survey and win a chance at a $100 grand prize.

If you live in Charlotte, Mecklenburg County or nearby counties, the Urban Land Institute Charlotte chapter wants to know about your housing needs and preferences. Take their survey and win a chance at a $100 grand prize.

A year-long institute study of a McClintock Middle School public-private partnership known as McPIE found a higher proportion of the students taking part in the group’s activities passed eighth- and ninth-grade Common Core math and science exams, and they averaged fewer days absent.

Research by the UNC Charlotte Urban Institute for United Way of Central Carolinas has found that almost 90 percent of at-risk Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools students who took part in programs from 14 local United Way-funded agencies over three or more years graduated from high school.

Large trends – income inequality, increasing economic segregation – are making it hard for people in poverty to realize the American Dream by working hard and climbing the ladder. In a Q/A interview, civic engagement expert Robert Putnam discusses the effect on children.

Depending on how they're built, our communities can make us lean, strong and happy – or overweight and depressed. That's the message public health expert Richard Jackson brings to UNC Charlotte Center City in a free event April 8. A Q-and-A interview.

Depending on how they're built, our communities can make us lean, strong and happy – or overweight and depressed. That's the message public health expert Richard Jackson brings to UNC Charlotte Center City in a free event April 8. A Q-and-A interview.